ENTERTAINMENT

Latest News & Events, Movies, Music, and Dining Reviews for CNY

• Festival offerings come up short
The problem with a first-rate chamber music organization such as the Skaneateles Festival is that it is expected to live up to its reputation with each performance.

• Making it special
The signs were many that Toby Keith was at the top of his game Thursday night at the state fair's Mohegan Sun Grandstand.

• Readers had plenty to say during fair
I learn something every day in this job, particularly from readers.

• 'Traitor' is good thriller with solid acting
Don Cheadle etches another memorable portrait in "Traitor," a taut thriller that turns a conventional plot into a more elevated tale thanks to the star and a handful of other roles, which are written with surprising depth.

• Teens Rate the Midway Rides
About a million people will go to the New York State Fair this year, viewing more than 375 acres of animals, displays and exhibits.

• Night of the Pop Stars
Vanessa Hudgens had a colorful backdrop with one word splashed across it - "Vground."

• Metropolitan Opera announces hi-def theater schedule
If you can't make it to the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, its performances will come to you September through May at Regal Carousel Stadium 17 in Syracuse and Regal Cinemas Ithaca Mall Stadium 14.

• SU Grad Back on CNY Stage
Doppelgangers. One dictionary defines them as doubles. Geoff Lutz lived as one throughout his Syracuse University drama department years.

• Toby Keith rides to grandstand
Toby Keith's Biggest and Baddest Tour touches down at the state fair grandstand tonight.

• Skaneateles Festival wraps up
The Skaneateles Festival wraps up its last weekend with concerts featuring the music of Mozart and Bach, among others.

• Cortland Rep closes 'Guitar'
Cortland Repertory Theatre ends its season this weekend with "Johnny Guitar."

• Rascal Flatts at grandstand
Popular country band Rascal Flatts winds up the music at the state fair grandstand on Sunday night.

• Fair wraps up
Monday marks the sunset of another New York State Fair.

• Francesca's remains a star in Little Italy
Some bright dining spots in Little Italy on North Salina Street leave of us hoping they will inspire still more. One of the brightest is 4-year-old Francesca's Cucina, which has blossomed into a creative Italian restaurant with a banquet hall and large private garden-patio for outdoor dining.

• Styx Together, Boston Not
Tuesday night's Styx and Boston show may have been the loudest concert at the New York State Fair Mohegan Sun Grandstand this year.

• Fair's Beef Sundae Is Hot
Wanda Kilgallen's curiosity got to her at the state fair Tuesday.

• Cortland strums fine tune in 'Johnny Guitar'
There's rootin'-tootin', robberies, a near hanging and plenty of jealousy and revenge on the stage of Cortland Repertory Theatre with the Central New York premiere of "Johnny Guitar," the closing attraction of its 2008 season.

• How the judges pick cake champ
It's 10 a.m. Monday and four women are behind a windowpane with endless platters of cake behind them.

• Fans cheer 'same three guys'
Billy Gibbons explained the numbers to the music fans at the state fair's Mohegan Sun Grandstand on Monday night.

• A lot of talent is wasted in 'Death Race'
What was Jason Statham thinking when he signed on for the "Death Race" remake? The film takes him a giant step backward from "The Bank Job," the best movie he has done to date.

• State Fair Calendar
Daily specials:

• Still Smiling, Despite Sadness
At 5 feet 3 and 100 pounds, Rosie Catlin stands out in a crowd. She's the one with the big black cowboy hat, black jeans and boots, the bright Western shirt, lanyard of state fair buttons around her neck and a cell phone holster clipped to the belt with the big Dale Earnhardt buckle.

• Leppard cranks through old, new
Eighties-famed band Def Leppard played to a group of lively and loyal fans Sunday evening at the Mohegan Sun Grandstand at the New York State Fair.

• ‘Longshots’ entertaining, but script’s cookie-cutter
Ice Cube stretches his acting just a tiny bit in “The Longshots.” Too bad the script is a cookie-cutter whose mold should be smashed to pieces.

• Week ends on lively note
Outdoor-themed music closed out the third week of the 2008 Skaneateles Festival season on Saturday, when The Festival Orchestra was showcased appropriately in the open air at Brook Farm, overlooking Skaneateles Lake. Under the direction of Hugh Keelan, the orchestra played European music from France, Germany, England and Norway, all written between the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

• 'Longshots' entertaining, but script's cookie-cutter
Ice Cube stretches his acting just a tiny bit in "The Longshots." Too bad the script is a cookie-cutter whose mold should be smashed to pieces.

• Review
The rather unlikely hookup with singer Arnel Pineda has breathed a whole new life into rock band Journey.

• Schumer makes pitch for affiliation with Mets
For about five minutes Saturday at the New York State Fair, the New York Mets were the most talked about team in baseball, after the Syracuse Chiefs.

• Fair Events
Daily specials:

• Review
The Merry-Go-Round Playhouse's current offering, directed by Steve Bebout, is the zany, rock musical "Little Shop of Horrors."

• Head to Ithaca for 'Afternoon of Theatre'
LaVerne Light has endeared herself to audiences at Ithaca's Hangar Theatre and Kitchen Theatre as well as Cornell University theatergoers.

• Five movies set to open this week, including 'Hamlet 2'
How do you bring your Shakespearean sequel to the stage when your students are disinterested? It's the problem of teacher Dana Marschz in "Hamlet 2," which opens Wednesday.

• Fest makes another wonderful musical turn
Following the attractive "An Evening in Old Vienna" on Thursday, the innovative programming choices marking this year's Skaneateles Festival continued Friday night with "As the Century Turns: An Evening in Paris," held at the First Presbyterian Church. The works presented were all composed in Paris within a span of 25 years on either side of 1900.

• In Review
The Goo Goo Dolls dig playing at their home state fair. Maybe it's the fond memories that singer/guitarist John Rzeznik and bassist/singer Robby Takac have of growing up down the Thruway in Buffalo.

• Today's Fair Calendar
Public Employees Federation Day; New Times Theatre "Erie Canal Day"; EnTherm, corporate sponsor of the day. 9 A.M. TO NOON 9 a.m.:Lou Davis Memorial Basketball Tournament, outside the Coca-Cola Coliseum.

• State Fair Calendar
Public Employees Federation Day; New Times Theatre "Erie Canal Day"; EnTherm, corporate sponsor of the day. 9 A.M. TO NOON

• Fair Calendar
9 A.M. TO NOON

• Daughtry opens fair with serious rock show
Chris Daughtry was ready for the big-stage, outdoor show.

• Fair Calendar
Daily specials:

• Sausage, With a Few Ribs
After weeks of hard work trying to get the state's budget in check, Gov. David Paterson finally had a chance Thursday to enjoy a little summer vacation.

• Concert offers taste of Vienna, circa 1900
Good music coupled with solid music-making expands the mind and nourishes the senses. But let's not underestimate the power of thematic programming to enhance the imagination, as well.

• Fine-tuned ensemble plays 'Johnny Guitar'
Summer theaters like to end their seasons with shows that leave the audience feeling ebullient, upbeat and energized.

• 'Bottle Shock' is no 'Sideways' but delightful
It is not as impressive as "Sideways," the movie that put the California wine industry on the movie map. It lacks the tart edge and has too many familiar characters. But "Bottle Shock" is a small delight that offers handsome scenery and splendid performances and clues its audiences on the fine points of wine.

• Organist pulls out the stops at festival
Don't ever underestimate the value of seeing, and not just hearing, a recital.

• Business as Usual for Hillary
Does the road to the vice presidency run through Syracuse?

• Holy cow! Artist sculpts nursery rhyme in butter
This year's butter sculpture re-enacts the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle" in 900 pounds of butter, with the cow jumping over the moon, plus the little dog, dish and spoon.

• Spinners to play fair despite singer's death
The show will go on Friday for The Spinners at the state fair's Chevrolet Court.

• 'Think Tech' opens during Th3
Explore the best in visual arts throughout Syracuse today when the monthly Th3 - Visual Arts Open rolls around.

• Festival highlights Paris
Friday's concert at the Skaneateles Festival is called "As the Century Turns: An Evening in Paris."

• Classic rock at grandstand
Power pop comes to the state fair grandstand with a vengeance Saturday with a triple bill featuring Journey, Heart and Cheap Trick.

• Petroff plays Beachouse
Looking for a little rock on the water this weekend?

• Rustic dining takes tasty turn at Kristi's
If you're ready for a dining adventure that takes you into the woods, head for Oswego and the Gehrig family campground with eight overnight cabins, a fishing lodge and boat charters around Lake Ontario.

• KITCHEN MANAGER THOMAS DUFFY THOMAS DUFFY, 37, IS THE KITCHEN MANAGER AT THE BLUE TUSK IN ARMORY SQUARE.
IDENTITY

• Photos by Jennifer Meyers, Staff photographer
HOTTEST CHICK N WING FESTIVAL About 30,000 people attended the fourth annual Hottest Chick N Wing Festival at the Inner Harbor in Syracuse, according to Pam Levine, event director. The public sampled more than 50 varieties of chicken wings on Friday and Saturday, she said. Shifty's in Syracuse won the hottest wing category.

• How to have fun at the Fair
The New York State Fair's theme this year is, "There's FUN in the air!"

• 'Errors' pulled off in spite of distractions
Theater people often are forced to perform under adverse circumstances. Such was the case of the Syracuse Shakespeare Festival's mounting of "The Comedy of Errors" as its annual production in the Thornden Park Amphitheater.

• Asteroid consequences discussed
Turn to PBS at 9 p.m. for "Nova ScienceNow: Asteroid." It explores whether a doomsday asteroid will hit the Earth in 2036 and what the consequences could be. Following at 10 p.m. is "Nova: ScienceNow." It looks at startling new research that has recovered ancient proteins from dinosaur bones.

• Bardem, Cruz steal 'Vicky' spotlight
Woody Allen cannot be counted out yet. While his London films found him spinning his cinematic wheels with all-right but scarcely top films, Spain seems to have invigorated his writing and directing in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona."

• Song, strings prove a delightful mix
The threat of rain Saturday evening may have scared some of the Skaneateles Festival faithful from venturing outdoors to Brook Farm, but the weather turned out to be rather calm and beautiful — two words that, for the most part, describe the evening’s concert.

• Stars come out for Soundcheck show
George Rossi brought more than the spirit of New Orleans with him for this Little Georgie and the Shuffling Hungarians reunion.

• 'Clone Wars' has lots of action, but little heart
George Lucas and Co. pour on the action and the weird creatures but "Star Wars: The Clone Wars" lacks heart.

• The Scarlet Ending is just beginning
Spending eight days touring Germany, Kaleena Goldsworthy figured out one declaration in the mother tongue.

• 'Hedwig' is what theater is all about
One might theorize that theater has three main functions: to simply entertain; to transport one to a different time, place or situation; and to challenge with questions and issues that one may find uncomfortable, controversial or even distasteful.

• Cortland Rep closes season with a musical, 'Johnny Guitar'
Remember Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge in the 1954 movie "Johnny Guitar"?

• Cortland Rep. closes season with a musical, 'Johnny Guitar'
Remember Joan Crawford and Mercedes McCambridge in the 1954 movie "Johnny Guitar"?

• Opening This Week
Ice Cube has fared well by linking his movie fortunes with child actors. And he's doing it again with "The Longshots," where he plays a down-on-his-luck player who once was a high school football star.